>> steve: one of the young people when did respond said fiscal cliff, that sounds like something i probably studied in school. no. this is new. this is something that they've just fresh baked up for us. >> brian: this generation made it up! >> gretchen: they'll be paying for it. >> steve: for a long, long time. our children and children's children, consider the amount of dent this president has run up. this could be good news. the president of the united states did speak with speaker boehner yesterday on the phone. we know nothing about the call except they talked on the phone. we do know that the last offer, the counteroffer was made by the republicans. they're waiting for the white house. the white house at the same time says come on, we don't have another counteroffer because your last offer was a stinker. you, republicans, need to come up with a new one. >> gretchen: the thing is, they're playing hard ball right now. the white house has sent out tim geithner, the treasury secretary, instead of the president actually, to lead the negotiations and when he was asked yesterday in an intervi